Improvement in printing-presses



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.A

STEPHEN D. TUCKERfOF NEW YORK, N. Y.

iMPaovEMl-:NT iN PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification forming part ot LettersPatent No. 43,349, dated June 2S, 1864.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN D. TUCKER, of the city, county, and State of New York,

clare that the following isa full, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specication, in which- Figure lis a plan, Fig. 2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a cross vertical section, of the tube t and stop-cock o.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

In printing-machines it has been the practice for some years back to pile the printed sheets regularly, as they are delivered, by means of a mechanism called the fly,V which consists of a set of fingers or bars proiecting from a rocking shaft. `The sheets of paper as they are delivered from the printing-machine are carried down on a series of tapes, the plane of which forms an angle of a little more than ninety degrees with the plane of the bed on which they (the sheets) are to be laid or deposited. The fingers or bars of the fly are placed between the tapes and a little back of them, and so soon as a sheet has been carried down sufficiently 10W it is taken from the tapes by the fly, the fingers or bars of which strike it between the tapes and turn it over and lay it on the pile. To effect this, it was necessary for the fly to turn more than a quarter of a circle from the plane of the tapes to the plane of the pile of sheets. The range of motion of the iiy was too great for rapid working, and if the tapes were placed so as to carry down the sheet in a plane too nearly vertical to reduce in part the range of motion of the ily the sheet was liable to leave them before being struck by the iiy.

' side of a series of tapes or cords, in combination with the fly for throwing it down onto the pile, from which it results that the sheets are more accurately delivered, and the range of motion of the ily rendered materially less, and the rapidity of the delivery thereby'greatly increased. Y

l have deemed it unnecessary in the accompanying drawings to represent any portion of a printing-machine, as my said invention is applicable to any printingmachine which delivers the sheets.

In the accompanying drawings, a represents a cylinder mounted in a suitable frame and which receives the sheets of paper from the printing-machine, and hence its periphery should travel with the same velocity as the sheet when it is being discharged. Motion 'may be imparted to the said cylinder in any suitable manner from the' printingmachine.4 A series ot' endless tapes, b, pass around this cylinder and around a roller, c, parallel there- Withvand mounted in the same frame. The sheet of paper, as it is delivered from the printing-machine, is received by and carried forward on the said tapes. Above the cylinder a there is a roller, d, the journals of 'which work in vertical slots in two standards, so that its periphery rests on the cylinder a. Ailo-ther series of` endless tapes, e, just over the tapes b, pass around the roller d, over the roller c, and under a roller, f, which is mounted over the roller c thence around a series of wheels, g, on a shaft, h, and back over the roller j to and around the roller d. Motion is communicated by a belt, t', from a piilley, j, on the shaft of the cylinder a to a pulley, 7c, on the shaft h of the wheels g. to communicate mot-ion to the series of tapes e, the diameters of the pulleys j and k and of the cylinder a and wheels g bein g so proportioned that the two series of tapesb and e shall travel with equal velocity. Beyond the series of wheels g there is a rock-shaft, l, mounted in the frame, from which shaft project a series of parallel iin gers or bars which play between the wheels g and the tapes e, and which, when at rest, are a little above the plane of the tapes.. On one end of 4this rock-shaft l there is an arm, m, connected by a rod, n, with a lever, o, the

lower end of which turns on a fulcrum-pin, p, y

and this lever is pressed against the periphery of a cam-wheel, q, on one end of the shaft of the cylinder c, by the tension of a spring, r, so that at each revolution of the cylinder a the cam projection or tappet s on the wheel q strikes the lever o and by the connections rocks the shaft l, and thereby depress the ngers, which are immediately lifted by the tension of the spring lr. Just under the roller c there is a tube, t, with a row of small apertures, and this tube is connected with a suitable blower (not necessary to be described or represented) by means of a pipe, a, and in the pipe u there is a stop cock, c, on one end of another rock-shaft, w, provided with an arm, connected by a rod, y, with the upper end ofthe lever o, so that as the fly is vibrated to depress its fingers or bars the blast of air from the blower will be shut oft' from the pipe t. As a sheet of paper passes from the printing-machineloetween the cylinder a and roller t it is carried along betwhen the two series of tapes b and e, resting on the series b, and as soon as it passes beyond the roller c it is no longer held up by the series of -tapes b, and it is then held up against the under side of the series of tapes e by the currents of air issuing in an upward direction from the series of apertures in the tube t, and it is thus held up until it is entirely beyond the series of tapes b and under the iiy, at which time the tappet or cam s strikes the lever o, by which the stop-cock n is turned to stop the blast of air and the iiy operated to strike down the sheet, which is thus quickly and by a slight mation of the y deposited into a box, z. rlhe ily is immediately lifted to permit .the next sheet topassunder it. In this way-the sheets can be delivered and piled up accurately and more rapidly than heretofore in consequence of the vrry short range of motion necessary to be given to the fly.

To facilitate the entrance of the sheets of paper between the two series of tapes at the time each sheet is presented, the roller d is lifted by the passage under it of a projection, a', at each end of the cylinder. ever, may be dispensed with. And although I prefer to shut oi' the blast of air at the time the ily strikes down the sheet of paper, that being the best mode of applying my said invention, I do not wish to be understood as limiting my claim of invention thereto, as the sheets can be carried down by the fly while the blast is continued.

VW'hat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The employment of the means, or the equivalent thereof, for discharging a current or currents of air under the sheet of paper to hold it up against the under side of a series of tapes or cords, in combination with the ily for depressing or striking down the sheet, substantially as described.

STEPHEN D. TUCKER. Witnesses:

ANDREW DE LACY, WM. H. BISHOP.

This, how- 

